I woke to the sun streaming in my window. I'd slept in.
I'd told Brad the night before that if I naturally woke up with him at 4:30 am I'd be happy to take the one-hour drive to Samford Parklands parkrun.
Then I had the worst night's sleep this week. Hence, sleeping til the sun woke me. I looked at the clock and it said 5:23 am. I immediately knew I still wanted to go. With blurry eyes, I walked out into the lounge room.
"If you drive and can be ready in five minutes we can go to Samford," I said to Brad. He was on it.
I dressed in the clothes I'd laid out hopefully the night before. I made a rushed, take-away breakfast that I've eaten on the road dozens of times on-route to far away parkruns. I popped the things into the car, and off we went!
In between devouring my gluten-free, blueberry-laden, almond-milk-soaked cereal, I went hunting for information on public toilets. Coming up short, I opted for a quick stop near Mitchelton parkrun, still managing to arrive, along with hundreds of others, just in time for the run brief.
The run brief!
The Co-Event Director, and today's Run Director, Tricia gave one of the longest AND most engaging parkrun briefs I've heard in... well, a lot of parkruns. Funny, poignant, on point, inclusive. She set up the 352 runners and walkers off to a great start.
We quickly discovered that the 2 lap, out and back course, really is a bit too skinny for this many people. But, of course, this is our fault as tourists who visit in the first half a dozen events. We blame the traffic but we ARE the traffic.
That day, Brad and I did something we rarely do: we both walked, and we walked together. Usually running, almost always at different speeds, we almost never do parkrun "together".
But as he cared for an unhappy ankle and I chose to take it easy on a nearly-ready-to-run-again knee, we cruised the winding 5km course along with our fellow park walkers.
As runners weaved their way through the crowd of walkers, and we stared lovingly at nearby cows, Brad and I found ourselves in conversation with other uber parkrun tourists. Funny how we can find each other without even trying.
I got to put faces to names I’d been seeing on the Australian Most Events List for aaaages. Our conversations with Roberta, Parth and The Two Irenes meandered between parkrun adventuring, ways to heal our bodies and professional endeavours, and we even discovered that one of the women went to the same high school as Brad!! Such a small world =)
No sooner had we crossed the finish line than I realised just how hot it had become. We said our goodbyes to one crew in order to keep our parkrun coffee date with our local buddy Matt and his parents, Kathy and Iain.
We found them in the sun at a local cafe called The Owlery.
Gosh, The Owlery! What a delight!
It was far less busy than the other cafes in Samford Village but with good coffee and several simple food options, this cafe wins as one of my favourite parkrun cafes to date. With indoor and outdoor seating options, including spots in both the shade and the sun, this refurbished building was gorgeous!
Harry Potter fans will love all the Potter-inspired decorations EVERYWHERE! It even has a "Store of Requirement" that opens on Saturdays at 10 am. So if you linger in conversation post-parkrun that long (as we did!) then you can have a nosey in there too :)
Why did we hang around that long? Well, another of our far flung parkrunning friends, Neil was volunteering so his wife (and the newly reinstated Stateswoman) Gemma waited til he was done to join us. Then our new friends Roberta, Parth and The Two Irenes joined us as well.
Before I knew it, Brad was suggesting more food and coffee.
After swapping stories, sharing predictions on possible new parkruns and hearing Gemma's favourite parkruns in Qld, we said our goodbyes. Brad and I did a lap around this small but bustling town to see what was there, and help all that food and coffee go down!
We spotted several lovely retail stores and cafes, along with a small museum and tourist information centre in John Scott Park. Conveniently, this park is right across the road from The Owlery, and apart from having a heap of fun play equipment it also had clean toilets that would be very easy to visit on the way to parkrun next time.
After our walk, it was time to head home.
A new location - TICK
New parkrun friends made - TICK.
And that was my 150th different parkrun I’d walked or run at - TICK!!!
I wonder where we’ll go next?